The Customer is Always Right, Right!
by SilentJo
Summary: Midoriya is excited to start his first job, though his first day doesn't go quite as smoothly as he hoped. From getting trained by Kacchan, who spends just as much time ridiculing customers as he does working, to the customers themselves that make him question his own sanity, Midoriya wasn't expecting there to be so much going on when people bought groceries!
1. Chapter 1

Midoriya slipped on the brand-new white buttoned shirt and tucked it into his black slacks. Adjusting the stiff collar until it looked even, he slipped the light blue sleeveless vest on and pulled the collar over the neckline. Buttoning up the vest, the slim design and color complimented his skin tone and forest green hair.

"Izuku, I have breakfast on the table, hurry up or you won't have time to eat!" his mother Inko yelled from the kitchen. Smiling, he brushed the front of his uniform down and stuck his hands in the roomy front pockets. He was nervous about his first day at his first job but knowing he had friends that worked there already helped to ease his anxiety.

Walking into the kitchen, Midoriya was amazed at how much food his mother had managed to cook and lay out on their kitchen table. Scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled fish, miso soup, rice, sliced fruits, even fresh muffins and toast. It was like his own personal buffet.

"M-Mom, you didn't have to do all of this!"

Inko blushed slightly, "Oh honey, it's your first day, you have to make sure you get a healthy breakfast so you can have energy!" She didn't want to admit that her own nerves were on edge. Her baby boy was starting his first job, and aside from torrential tears, one of her other coping mechanisms for anxiety was to occupy herself with cooking.

"Thank you for the meal!" Midoriya said as he bowed his head and started to load his plate. His stomach was full of butterflies, which made his appetite nearly non-existent, but he couldn't let all the work his mother put into this feast of a meal go unappreciated.

"I can't believe my baby is going off to his first job. You're just growing up too fast for me, Izuku." Inko finally sat down after making sure her son had properly started eating and made her own plate. Her emotions threatened to flood over as she looked across the table and saw Midoriya as a toddler, barely able to see over the table without his booster seat. Blinking her tears away, she saw her teenager shoveling eggs into his face while watching the clock behind her every few seconds.

"It's not a race, dear, you'll never make it in to your first day if you choke on your breakfast."

"Sorry, Mom," Midoriya said, shoving the contents of his mouth to the side in order to speak clearly. Despite his lack of appetite, he'd managed to clear his plate and drain his glass of juice. Taking his dishes to the sink to rinse them, he saw the bento on the edge of the counter. "You made my lunch, too?"

"Of course I did, who knows what kind of junk food you'd pick out for yourself if I just let you get something from the store!"

"But this bento is two trays tall! I'm only going to have thirty minutes to eat, there's no way I'll be able to finish it all after such a big breakfast!"

Inko stood up from the table, finished with her meal, and joined her son at the sink. She placed the heavy bento in his hands, "Then find someone to share it with you. You said your classmates work there, so give them some of it so they can have a healthy meal as well."

"You're too good to me, Mom." Giving her a hug while holding the bento at his side, Midoriya glanced at the clock again. "Oh no! I have to get going or I'll be late! Thanks again Mom, I'll let you know how things are going when I take my break!"

And with a swift kiss to her cheek and another tight hug, Midoriya rushed over to the doorway, slid into his new black shoes, and disappeared out the front door with his voice trailing off, "love you!"

"Have a good day, sweetie, I love you too." The downpour of tears accompanied her smile as she set her mind to clearing the table. Midoriya didn't know it yet, but he was going to be coming home to a large dinner as well if Inko's stress management had anything to do with it.

* * *

Long black hair tied into a surprisingly neat ponytail, the Customer Service Manager, Aizawa, approached Bakugou.

"We got a new kid starting with us today. I want you to be the one to train him."

Staring blankly at the tired-eyed and stubbly face of his boss, Bakugou scoffed, "Tch, you really want me to be responsible for teaching some damn extra about this job?"

"Look, my options are limited at the moment, but you're the one that's been here the longest. With your attitude, I'm not even sure how that's been possible, but the fact is that if you can make it here, you could show the new guy how to survive too."

"Very uplifting speech, boss. When's he get in?" Just as Bakugou asked, a flurry of green fluff sprinted through the automatic doors. Noticing the cashier's uniform, Bakugou internally face-palmed. He knew who this nerd was from school. "Deku?! You're having me train _Deku?!" _

As though summoned by name, Midoriya approached the two. "H-Hello sir, I'm Izuku Midoriya, today is my first shift. Oh, hello Kacchan, I didn't know you'd be here today! Have you been enjoying the summer break?"

"Not anymore I'm not. Who decided to let a useless nerd like you work here anyway?"

"Ah, Young Midoriya, you made it in for your first day of work. I hope you have a great day! Young Bakugou, be sure to show Midoriya just what it means to be a proud member of Musutafu's best grocery store, Food Smash! Aizawa, ready for the meeting?"

The giant of a man looming over the three employees had a grin on his face from ear to ear. His deep yellow hair was slicked back with exception to the two strands that hung up, resembling bunny ears. The store manager, Toshinori, had been the one to convince Midoriya to join their team. They'd met in town, where Midoriya had been peering into the window of the local figurine and game shop admiring the latest hero figures. Finding a common interest in comics and hero memorabilia, Midoriya had lamented not being able to afford the latest All Might figurine. Toshinori offered him the job right there, feeling obliged to help a fellow hero enthusiast obtain such a treasure.

With a sigh, Aizawa nodded. "Yeah, let's get this over with. Mic is already in there, he's got his latest commercial ready for us to view. I hope he remembered to watch the volume this time. You're with Bakugou today, Midoriya. We'll be in this conference meeting most of the day. Try to only call for us if it's absolutely necessary."

"Yes sir! And thank you again for the job, Mr. Toshinori, I won't let you down!" Midoriya bowed his head as the two adults walked away to start their lengthy meeting. Bakugou watched his classmate and laughed at the thought of such a naive and clueless kid working with the public.

"Alright Deku, first thing is showing you how to get clocked in so you'll actually get paid for being here." Walking away from his register, Bakugou paused and turned back, "You gonna come with me to see this shit or not?"

"O-Oh! Yeah, I was umm, is it okay to just leave the front of the store like this? I don't see anyone else working out here." He noticed that Bakugou's register had been the only one with its numbered light turned on.

"This early in the morning most of the idiots just get a newspaper or donuts. They can handle that at the self-checkouts. Now come on, I got a long day and having you attached to my damn hip isn't gonna make it any better." Midoriya quickly got into step with Bakugou, who took them into one of the front rooms in the corner of the store. Walking in, there were two tables with chairs lined up against the wall. A fridge was tucked into the corner with a counter that housed a commercial-sized microwave. The sink was at the far right end of the counter, with the room's only trash can set next to it.

"Time clock is against this wall here. They gave you your numbers, right?"

Digging into his vest pocket, Midoriya revealed a small post-it note that had a 7-digit string of numbers written in marker. "Yep, got it right here!"

"It's barely worth explaining, but when you're clocking in, you push the In button, then enter that number. When you leave, do the same except press Out. For your meals, you press Start meal and then the number. Simple enough for you?"

"Yeah, I get it, Kacchan. Should I go ahead and..?"

"You want a paycheck, don'tcha? Any day now would be great." Bakugou rolled his eyes as Midoriya flinched before slowly typing in his employee number.

"Great, now you've officially started your day. Just throw that monster of a lunch in the fridge and get back out to the front." Bakugou left the break room, leaving Midoriya to get a closer look at the surroundings. Numerous inspirational posters lined the walls, as well as informative bulletins on current sales and other notices that were required to be on display.

The door opened once more, and just as Midoriya was about to acknowledge Bakugou's return, he realized that it was another classmate.

"Midoriya, I didn't know you worked here," said Todoroki, dressed in the same white shirt, though sporting a white bakers apron, lined at the hem with the light blue store color.

"I just started today, actually. Kacchan's training me and just showed me how to clock in."

"They're letting _him _train you? Man, they must be short-staffed at the front." Todoroki shook his head before meeting Midoriya's emerald eyes again. "Look, if there's anything you think he's not telling you right, just come over to the bakery and I'll see if I can help. What time is your break?"

"I think it's right at noon, but it's only thirty minutes long," Midoriya said.

Todoroki quickly touched through his phone, "Looks like my break doesn't start until 12:30 pm today, so I can at least see you in passing. Just let me know if there are any problems, okay?"

Smiling bright, Midoriya responded, "Sure thing, Todoroki!" Before either teen made their way back to the door, it swung open, revealing a behemoth of a man taking up the entire door frame.

"Shoto, I put in another request for your transfer but it keeps getting denied." The man with the fiery red crew cut and mustache stared narrowly at Todoroki. "You're better off training in the meat department. You know you'd work out better as a meat clerk than some damn pastry seller."

"I've no interest in following in your footsteps. You're wasting your time with those transfer requests because I'll never work for you in that department."

Todoroki's father, Enji, sneered at his son now, age trying to overcome years of hostility as he weighed his opinion towards his son again. "You know you'd have a better career following me in the meat department. As the manager, you know you'd be next in line for my position should I be transferred to another store."

"Still not interested. Keep playing with your meat, I'd rather sling dough than work in the same department as you."

Frustrated but knowing when to stop his attempts to recruit his son, Enji turned hard on his heel and stalked out of the break room and towards the back of the store, where he would spend the rest of his shift cutting and packaging the raw meats that were shipped into their store daily.

"So you really don't want to try to work as a meat department manager someday, Todoroki? Seems like you'd have a good career path lined up for you."

Staring off in the direction his father had recently gone, Todoroki shook his head lightly. "No. Everything else in this store just seems hectic or mundane. When I get to see Mother work on her cakes, there's something peaceful about her method. She's one of the cake decorators for the bakery. Even though we don't get paid as much as the other departments, I'd rather stay there and watch her work on her cakes than make more money viewing something far less beautiful."

"That's… Really sweet, Todoroki. Oh! I totally didn't mean to make that sound like a bakery pun! But, yeah, that's nice that you enjoy where you're working. I should probably go see where Kacchan is so I can keep training. I'll see you around!"

"Yeah, see you later Midoriya," Todoroki replied as he clipped his hair back and stretched a white hair net over his head. A brief smile showed on his face when he realized the bakery had a perfect view of the front of the store. Getting to watch his green-haired crush at work was just another reason to never want to leave his department.

* * *

**AN- I've been writing down strange customer interactions at my job for months now, anticipating the chance to write a story based on them. The customers in this story are all based on real happenings, which shows you that life can be as entertaining as fiction! I hope you enjoy the story, please let me know what you think about Midoriya's first day on the job!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Walking back to the registers, Midoriya found Bakugou on a register with an older gentleman loading his groceries on the conveyor belt.

"Stand at the end and bag for me, Deku," ordered Bakugou as he started to scan each item and slide them down the slick stainless steel surface. Catching each item, Midoriya swiftly bagged similar products together like he had learned through the computer-assisted training lessons he had to sit through during his orientation the week before. When several gallons of water slid down the line, Midoriya stopped.

"W-Would you like your water in bags?" Midoriya asked, his voice shaky during his first customer interaction. The condescending stare the older man gave him didn't build his confidence up at all.

"Don't you think that's just a little bit ludicrous? It has handles for a reason."

Remembering his training, Midoriya nervously replied. "Y-yeah, but we have to ask."

"And I'm sure _some _of those idiots say yes. Just leave them out." The rude customer focused his attention on sliding his card into the credit card machine as Bakugou bagged the rest of the groceries himself. Sliding a carton of eggs into a bag followed by a loaf of bread, once the man finished his transaction and put his wallet away, Bakugou held out the bag in one hand and the receipt in the other.

The old man snatched the receipt out of Bakugou's hand, and just as he reached for the bag, Bakugou let it go where it fell to the floor with a wet crash as broken egg whites and yolks started leaking at the guy's feet.

"What the hell? Why'd you drop my shit you little bastard?" the irate customer said as he tried to wipe the spattered egg off his dress pants. Panicking, Midoriya went to go look for paper towels.

"The bag has handles for a reason, pretty ludicrous of you not to use 'em."

Mouth drawn open at the audacity of the blonde in front of him, the customer snatched his bag of broken eggs and smashed bread off of the floor, threw them in his grocery cart, and stalked out.

"Kacchan! How could you do that? What if he complains to our manager?" Midoriya said as he busied himself cleaning up the mess next to the register.

"Deku, if you worry about what each of these sorry extras has to say, then you're not gonna last here very long. I just shamed that idiot so hard he won't even want to tell his wife why he's bringing home pre-made french toast in a bag," Bakugou said with a self-satisfied laugh at the end.

The rest of the morning involved Midoriya shadowing Bakugou at the register, learning how the scanner worked and eventually switching places to handle customers himself. It wasn't a very busy morning, which gave Midoriya time to get comfortable behind the register. Most of the orders were small, like Bakugou had said, consisting of the morning paper and breakfast foods.

A small woman swung her cart into the checkout lane and started unloading her items. Bakugou eyed the customer warily. "Damn couponers…" he said under his breath.

Ringing up several identical items, Midoriya was handed a stack of coupons once he was finished. He knew to read each one carefully and only scanned them once he was sure it met the requirements. Confused over the wording of one coupon, he leaned toward Bakugou, who plucked it out of his hand.

"You can only use one of these a day, lady. It's not even in small print, one per household per day. Come back tomorrow for the other one," he said as he handed the lady back the extra coupon. Bakugou elbowed his way in front of the computer screen and quickly voided off the extra item and finished the transaction.

The petite woman walked her cart a short distance away and pulled out her phone. Raising it to her ear she was silent as she waited for an answer. While Midoriya added more grocery bags to the holder at the end of the register, he heard when the lady's conversation started.

"Yeah, I'm at Food Smash. Are you nearby? No, they wouldn't let me use the rest of my coupons. The blonde guy, yeah. Oh I know, if it was the cute one I probably could have gotten away with it. Anyway, once you're done with that, stop by here so you can use my other coupon. The sale ends tomorrow though! Awesome, I knew we were besties for a reason, see you soon!"

As the woman hung up her phone, she noticed Midoriya's attention was on her. Grinning, she shrugged her shoulders and left the store. Unsure of what to say, if anything, Midoriya just returned to the register.

"They'll always try to slip shit like that in on you then whine when you don't just blindly scan them. It makes my day whenever I get to refuse to take their damn coupons." Bakugou looked behind them to the clock situated above their Customer Service desk. "Your break is at noon, right? Get going, before you make me late for my own and piss me off."

"O-Okay, see you in half an hour, Kacchan!" Midoriya said as he left the front and retreated to the break room. Tackling the electronic time clock for his break was simple enough once he remembered Bakugou's instructions. As he pulled out his bento from the fridge and started to unpack it at the table, the door opened to Todoroki walking in.

"Hey Todoroki, I thought you didn't have your break until later?"

Taking a drink from the fridge, Todoroki sat down across from Midoriya. "Mom had some free time between cake orders, so she told me to go early so she'd have someone to cover the counter for her when she starts the next cake." He didn't feel it was necessary to share the part where he practically begged to take his lunch at the same time as Midoriya.

"Oh, that was nice of her!" Remembering what his own mother had said about the ridiculously large lunch she'd made for him, he noticed that Todoroki didn't have any actual food with him. "Say, Todoroki, my mom gave me a lot more food than I could finish, would you like to share it with me?"

A blush rushed over Todoroki's cheeks as he looked at his friend. "I appreciate that, Midoriya. I'll have to thank your mother for the food the next time I see her." Opening up the bento lid and unseating the second tray, he found soba on the bottom. Remembering it being Todoroki's favorite from school, he pushed the tray over to him. Gray and blue eyes lit up as he accepted the food and took a pair of chopsticks from the utensil holder in the middle of the table.

"My mom tends to spend a lot of time in the kitchen when she gets worked up. I think she was almost as nervous as I was about my first day at work. But her food has a way of comforting me whenever I'm stressed. Hopefully, she got it out of her system during breakfast. Who knows what kind of dinner she'll have waiting for me when I get home." Midoriya smiled, and Todoroki couldn't help but look away. The lunch tasted great, but it wasn't calming his heart the way it soothed Midoriya's nerves. If anything, the gesture made him crush even harder on his classmate.

The rest of their meal went by with Midoriya telling Todoroki about the start of his day. He relayed the incident with the man and the water, to which Todoroki nodded and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Bakugou tends to do that with a lot of customers. I wouldn't try to emulate too much of what he's showing you. Whatever luck keeps him employed here may not extend your way."

"I figured as much," Midoriya replied as he finished the last of his lunch. Todoroki picked up both trays and took them over to the sink to rinse them. "You don't have to do that, Todoroki!"

"You were kind enough to share your food, I could at least clean these up for you." Shaking the excess water out, he pulled some paper towels from the dispenser to dry them off. Taking them back to the table, he stacked them together and slid them back to Midoriya. "Thank you again, Midoriya."

Checking the time, Midoriya realized he needed to clock back in. "Anytime! See you later!" Stowing the empty bento in a locker, he punched in his numbers and waited for the beep acknowledging it was accepted. Midoriya sprinted out of the break room and left a very flustered Todoroki in his wake.

Seeing that Bakugou was now in front of the self-checkout kiosks, he approached him, "Hey Kacchan, is this what I'm doin—"

"Shh... quiet, nerd," Bakugou replied sternly, staring at the register to their left.

Midoriya followed his line of sight and saw a middle-aged man facing away from them, "What is it?"

"This guy just put all his shit down on register six. No light, no cashier, no damn reason whatsoever to think it was open at all. Idiot's just standing there waiting."

Stepping to the side to see that the slightly balding man had indeed unloaded his handbasket of items onto the vacant register lane, Midoriya asked, "Shouldn't we let him know so he can get checked out?"

"Shit no, Deku! I wanna see how long it takes him to realize he's a fucking moron." The pair waited several minutes in silence as they waited for the man to notice his error. They could nearly see the lightbulb flash on over his head when he caught on that no one would be assisting him in his current location. Reloading his basket, he avoided both sets of eyes as he walked over to the next lane that did have a cashier ready to take him.

Midoriya looked to Bakugou once again. "So is self-checkout the next area you'll be showing me, Kacchan?"

"Yeah. Should be simple enough for even you to grasp. Just watch and make sure nobody steals shit. This handheld," Bakugou said as he raised a device about the size of a smartphone into view, "will alert you whenever someone's buying alcohol so you can check their ID. You just type in the birthdate and it will clear them to finish the sale. Easy enough."

A customer approached one of the kiosks with a small cart of groceries. Midoriya kept a close eye on them to be sure each item got scanned. Looking rushed, the college-aged girl finished scanning and used the touch screen to get to the payment screen. Choosing to pay with cash, she pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her purse and promptly tried to slip it into the end of the credit card reader. Taking a step toward her to correct her mistake, Bakugou grabbed his arm and kept him in place.

"She'll figure it out, nerd. This is the only form of entertainment you'll get over here at self-checkout, so don't ruin it." Just as he finished speaking, the girl snapped out of her daze and inserted the bill into the bill acceptor. "Damn, caught on faster than I thought she would. One time I saw a guy try to put a competitor's loyalty card into the credit card machine. Fucking idiots," Bakugou added as he shook his head.

Midoriya frowned at his coworker's obvious lack of respect for the customers. Todoroki was right, following Bakugou's work behavior would only lead to him getting in trouble or even fired. But there must be something his blonde classmate did right to keep his job despite his attitude. As he started to daydream about that particular mystery, the handheld device beeped. Bakugou handed it off to Midoriya, who saw the flashing icon was directing him to kiosk four.

"Hello, Miss, could I see your ID, please?" Midoriya said as he touched the screen and pulled up the keypad for the birthdate. The lady looked older than 21, but Midoriya had been told in orientation to check anyone who looked younger than 30, so he went with his better judgment.

Nodding, the woman pulled out her phone and started tapping on the screen. Sliding her finger up, she turned the phone to Midoriya, where it revealed a picture of her driver's license. "You can see the date, right?"

"W-Well, I-I don't think this counts, I would really need to see the actual card," Midoriya said sheepishly.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the lady slid the phone into her back pocket, "Well I'm gonna have to go get it out of my car. Don't call the law just yet, broccoli boy." With a turn so sharp it could have cut Midoriya in two if he'd been standing any closer, the lady stalked out the exit doors, her 3-inch heels clicking with each step. Turning around, Midoriya found Bakugou doubled over, hands clutching his knees as his laughter was barely contained.

"B-Broccoli boy! Oh shit, that was a good one!"

"Kacchan, it wasn't that funny. I was right for not taking that, wasn't I?"

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Bakugou straightened up, "Yeah, gotta see the real thing, no substitutes. You get fined pretty bad if someone's doing an ID check and you either don't card them or accept something dumb like that."

The familiar sound of heels announced the return of the ID lady, who was surprisingly empty-handed. "It wasn't in my car, but I have my college ID if that works." She showed Midoriya a card with the blue and yellow UA University logo and a slightly faded picture of herself. Her name was printed below the logo, but no birthdate or other identifying features.

"How the hell do you not have your license? You _drove _here, right?" Bakugou scoffed as he walked over to kiosk four. "What are you gonna do, show the cops your student ID when you get pulled over?"

"I didn't come here to get criticized, I came here to buy some wine," the lady said as she sneered at the blonde.

"Well, you'd better go pick out some fancy cheese instead because that'll be the only thing you'll be buying with a college ID. What a shame, you earned some points with me for the broccoli thing, too." Taking the handheld from Midoriya, Bakugou quickly canceled the transaction and retrieved the wine bottle from the self-checkout bag. Not knowing what else to do, the lady stomped off through the door once again, her heels sounded like they were piercing the floor with each step.

Handing him back the handheld and the wine, Bakugou took the receipt that printed out and threw it into the trash can. "Have fun, nerd, I'm going on break."

Mouth agape, Midoriya could only stand there in shock as Bakugou casually walked away from the registers and into the break room. "B-But Kacchan! Who am I supposed to ask if there's a problem?" He'd barely spent 10 minutes observing Bakugou at self-checkout, most of that time was spent ridiculing customers. How could he just leave him on his own, especially during lunchtime when there were more people in the store?


	3. Chapter 3

"Damn 30 minute breaks always go by too fast," Bakugou said as he walked back out to the store. Approaching the self-checkouts in the middle of the store, he found Midoriya bouncing from kiosk to kiosk, frantic and looking outright terrified. "Ugh, fucking nerd." He approached the other kiosks, clearing out the errors that were preventing customers from finishing their transactions. Most of which was caused by them not leaving their groceries in the bagging area long enough for the scale to pick up on the weight. Between the two of them, they managed to clear out the lunch rush.

"I-I was doing what I could, Kacchan. You didn't exactly leave me in a good position to man this by myself," Midoriya said, surprisingly emboldened to complain to the larger, more aggressive young man.

Bakugou didn't hear any of Midoriya's whining, his attention on the hooded figure that had just disappeared down aisle 4. Leaving the new guy once again to handle self-checkout by himself, Bakugou ducked down aisle 5 and at the end, carefully peeked around the corner. A slim man in a black hoodie faced the shelves, carefully looking over the skincare items.

"You're going to need a lot more than some lotion to fix your crusty old face when I get done with you, loser. We threw your ass outta here two months ago, Shigaraki. Just don't know when to quit, do you?" Bakugou had been the one to catch him stealing last time and even though they didn't have Shigaraki arrested, it had been made clear he was no longer allowed in the store.

"Is that any way to speak to a paying customer?" Shigaraki replied, turning to face Bakugou. Scars and wrinkles littered the areas around his eyes and forehead, dark circles shadowed under his eyes. "Besides, I've learned my lesson, but my associate… Well, he may not be so fast to catch on."

Realizing that he was just meant to be a diversion, Bakugou left Shigaraki and sprinted back to the front. The old lady that only works mornings and Deku were the only ones up there while the managers were in their meeting. He found Midoriya backed up against the wall with a tall, lanky man in his face. Spiked black hair with a multitude of tattoos, scars, and piercings, they had to be someone that Shigaraki knew.

"B-but you have to scan all the items, s-sir. You can't just drop them into the bag without p-paying for them!" Midoriya said, his voice trembling.

"You just couldn't look the other way, could you, kid?" the man said as he clutched Midoriya's shoulder tightly. "It wasn't even anything important, but you want to turn it into some big hassle and I'm just not in the mood to deal with a little brat like you today."

"Hey, asshole! Get your shitty hands off him. You think you're some kind of tough guy, well how about proving it with me, right here!" Bakugou stepped up and got into the man's face, nearly matching his height, though Bakugou had the weight advantage.

"Ahh, you must be the famous Bakugou Katsuki. Tomura told me about the mouthy little spitfire that nabbed him a couple of months back. Oh well, I've got no problem taking you down a few pegs. The name's Dabi, figured you should at least know the name of the guy that's gonna kick your ass." He let Midoriya go and pushed him away as he focused his attention on the furious blonde. Midoriya scrambled away and ran towards the offices. He knew how short of a temper Bakugou had, finding Aizawa and Toshinori before he went off was a must. Finding the conference room, Midoriya burst through the door.

"Sir! There's a g-guy that tried to steal from us, he's about to fight Kacchan! We have to stop them!"

The two older men rose from their chairs simultaneously while a blonde man with a gravity-defying hairdo and pencil mustache stared at Midoriya behind darkened shades. "Was it a wrinkly-faced man with red eyes?" asked Aizawa as they met Midoriya at the door.

"N-No, he's got black hair and b-blue eyes."

"Hmm, must be someone new then, I figured Shigaraki wouldn't just let that store ban go. Alright, we'll handle this Midoriya, just stay put." The two slid past him while the other man stayed put and fiddled with the laptop in front of him. Even though he'd been told to stay in the room, Midoriya had to be sure that Kacchan would be alright. Going back onto the floor, he saw that the other man Aizawa mentioned was now standing behind the one calling himself Dabi. Bakugou hadn't backed down even with the second man's appearance.

"Ahh, Young Shigaraki, I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again. I'm pretty sure it was made clear that you weren't welcome here anymore. And if your friend here is threatening my employees or attempting to steal as well, we'll have to ask you both to leave." Toshinori grinned the entire time he was speaking to the two troublemakers, something that Midoriya had found encouraging somehow.

Shigaraki tapped Dabi's arm and started to walk towards the exit. "Entertaining as always, big guy. Guess we'll just have to spend our hard-earned money elsewhere." Dabi followed behind the hooded man, though he paused long enough to jump towards Bakugou in a threatening manner before leaving with a smirk on his face.

"Until next time, brat," Dabi said as he waved his hand behind him.

"Weak ass losers! Next time I'll smash that smug face in!" Bakugou's temper was reaching its limit, and with no one to vent it against, he was seething with unreleased rage and energy. Toshinori rested a hand on his shoulder, and even though he was still angry, Bakugou seemed less inclined to explode now.

"Thank you again for your diligence, Young Bakugou. That man keeps testing our patience, but don't let them succeed in making you lose your cool. I'm proud to have you around in times like this when someone needs to stand firm, but you must also know when to stand down as well. Fighting wouldn't have solved anything."

"Yeah, but it woulda made me feel better," Bakugou said as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

Laughing heartily, Toshinori patted his shoulder before walking over to Midoriya. "And it was very wise of you to come to get help, Young Midoriya. Putting yourself in danger is the last thing I want you or any of my employees to do here."

Aizawa, who had followed the two miscreants to the door to make sure they left, returned to where the small crowd had formed. "Alright, if we're all good here, then we should get back to our conference. I know that was a harrowing experience, Midoriya. Do you want to take a short break?"

"No, sir," Midoriya said with a quick shake of his head, "I'm fine; you don't have to worry about me." The initial fear and panic that he felt when Dabi cornered him was gone, and though still shaken, he felt more motivated to keep learning his new job.

"Alright, let us know if there are any other problems. We should be finishing up shortly." Leaving the two teenagers alone again, Bakugou stared hard at Midoriya, which brought back some of his anxiety.

"What? You told me to make sure no one stole anything! That guy didn't bother scanning half of the things he was getting." Midoriya turned away from Bakugou and pulled the bag of items that Dabi had attempted to steal away from the checkout kiosk. Holding the bag open for the blonde to see, Midoriya hung his head down to hide the tears in his eyes. "Was I supposed to let him get away with it since he was bigger and tougher than I am? Just to avoid getting attacked or hurt? What was I supposed to do, Kacchan?!"

Bakugou's eyes softened as they rolled slightly at the smaller boy's venting. His chest still felt tight from when he got back to the front to see Midoriya being threatened by that creep. Not that he'd ever admit it to the wimp out loud, but he had a moment of panic over what could have happened to Deku if he hadn't gotten there in time.

"Standing your ground like that was pretty brave. Stupid, but it was brave. Guys like that use intimidation to get what they want. Showing them that you won't let them get away with their bullshit is the best way to keep them from pulling it on you again. Most idiots will back off when you stand up to them. We've had trouble with that crinkly-faced bastard for months now, but this was the first time he's brought a friend along. You didn't do anything wrong, nerd so quit with the waterworks." Bakugou's voice was surprisingly calm considering how worked up he had been five minutes ago.

"Thanks, Kacchan. I'm gonna go wash up in the bathroom. Be right back," Midoriya said as he sniffled through his nose and gave a slight smile. As many times as he's seen the brat cry through the years, this was the first time he'd ever seen how the tears brought out the emerald shine of his eyes. Or maybe it had always been that way and he was only noticing it now.

Left alone at self-checkout, Bakugou took Dabi's bag and dropped it off at Customer Service for them to be taken back to where they belonged. Returning to the kiosks, he saw two teenage girls looking over the candy rack. Taking their time to choose one, the taller of the two picked up a king-sized KitKat bar and held it up to Bakugou's eye level.

"How much is this?"

Sighing deeply, Bakugou leaned past the girls and stared at the clearly marked sales tag a bit longer than necessary. "Sign says 2 for $4." Watching the teen squint, he could visualize the gears in her head spinning and braced himself for the inevitable display of stupidity that was sure to follow. He was not disappointed.

"Well yeah, but how much is it for just one of them?"

Slapping his hand across his eyes and slowly running it down his face, Bakugou measured his voice and tone before answering. "Look, if two of them are $4, then that would make one of them…?" He gestured with his hand, palm out towards the candy bar.

Still visibly confused and now irritated, the girl tossed the candy back into its box on the rack. "I didn't come here to do math, asshole."

"Apparently you don't do much of it at school either, princess." No sooner had the two girls walked away did Bakugou see Todoroki rushing over from the bakery.

"I heard Shigaraki tried to start trouble." Looking around, Todoroki grew more agitated, "Where's Midoriya? Is he alright?"

"Keep your panties on, the nerd's fine. Crybaby ducked into the bathroom to wash his face." It was ridiculous to Bakugou how obvious Todoroki made his interest in Midoriya. Even more absurd was how dense the nerd was to not pick up on it at all.

Walking out of the bathroom and drying his hands with paper towels, Midoriya found Todoroki facing off with Bakugou. "H-Hey Todoroki, everything okay?"

Spinning around, slight panic washed over Todoroki's face but was quickly replaced by his stoic expression. "Yeah, I just wanted to see what happened with that guy who's always stealing from us. Did he get away with anything?"

"No, he had someone with him named Dabi that tried to take items at self-checkout, but I confronted him and kept him from taking anything. It was kinda scary at first, but then Kacchan showed up and distracted him so I could get away to let Mr. Toshinori know."

Todoroki eyed Bakugou, his heterochromatic eyes narrowing with a tinge of jealousy at Midoriya's nickname and how he painted the blonde as some kind of hero. "There's nothing in this store worth risking your safety for. If they steal, the bosses can easily replace it. They can't… They can't replace you, Midoriya."

"Wow, should I give you two some time alone? This is getting embarrassing for you, Half 'n Half," Bakugou said in a mocking tone.

"And you were supposed to be training him, how could you leave him alone like that? What would you have done if they'd seriously injured Midoriya?"

Panic spread through Midoriya like wildfire as his two classmates used him as the subject for their latest argument. It wasn't unusual to see the two at odds between classes or when they were on opposing teams during gym class. But for them to be arguing over him was a different situation. "Hey guys, it all worked out just fine, no need to argue about what could have happened, okay?" Midoriya inserted himself between the two before they could take it from a verbal fight to a physical one.

"Easy for you to say, hiding behind a bunch of cookies and pastries!" Bakugou yelled over the top of Midoriya's head. "At least I showed up when he needed help instead of after it all went down. Don't try to guilt-trip me because you couldn't be the hero your boyfriend needed, jackass!"

"Bakugou!" Todoroki exclaimed, shrinking away from the two, surprised that his crush had been revealed so abruptly. And by Bakugou of all people. Cheeks burning hot, he couldn't bear to sneak a glance towards Midoriya. "I-I should go back to the bakery," Todoroki said quietly as he quickly left the front of the store.

"Todoroki, wait!" Midoriya said, unsure whether he should follow him. Turning back to Bakugou, Midoriya's eyes were wide and fierce. "How could you say something like that to him, Kacchan? That was unfair, he couldn't have known about the confrontation with those guys while he was in his department!"

Rolling his eyes, Bakugou answered, "Oh my fucking god… Are you really that dense? My _rudeness _was the only thing you picked up on there?" He wanted to keep going, to ridicule him for completely disregarding the fact that he had outed Todoroki's crush on the nerd. But part of him didn't want Midoriya to realize it. And after the problem with the two thieves had passed, he did feel something like concern for him. Something he didn't want Todoroki to swoop in and take away. Was it jealousy? Over fucking Deku?!

"Just… Get back to work, you still have another hour before you leave for the day," was all Bakugou decided to say.

A young lady wearing a UA University shirt approached the blonde, waving cheerfully to get his attention. "Hey! I was wondering if you guys sold individual forks?"

Staring at the airhead and questioning if UA's admission requirements included coloring pages and markers, Bakugou took a cleansing breath before answering her. "No, we don't sell individual forks here. But, if you're willing to settle for the free kind, there are plenty of those in our deli section in the back corner of the store."

Unfazed by his obvious sarcasm, the girl smiled and thanked him before skipping away towards the deli. Facepalming once again, he looked up to see Midoriya smiling at him. "What?!"

"Nothing, just thought that you handled that with just the right balance of respect and sass. It was a nice break from your usual brashness." Midoriya returned to his post at the self-checkout kiosks and watched the approaching customers ring up their items, helping when the need arose. Before he realized it, Bakugou walked over and gestured for him to pass over the handheld.

"Time to go, nerd. Don't forget to clock out the right way. I still have a couple of hours left of my shift, so I can't babysit you anymore."

Nodding his head, Midoriya gave him the device, "Sure, thanks for helping me learn so much today. And for… For the Dabi thing…" Midoriya spoke the last bit quietly, shyly looking away as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Don't mention it. You working tomorrow?" Bakugou asked casually.

"Yep, 8-3 this time. Are you going to be here?"

Sighing, Bakugou replied, "Unfortunately, yes. Sounds like you'll be shadowing me again, so don't think I'll take it easy on you or anything."

"I'd never expect that from you, Kacchan. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'll see you tomorrow!" Midoriya walked away, completely oblivious to the crimson red eyes boring into his back as they watched until he disappeared into the break room.

He had just finished clocking out and had reached for the door when it was pushed from the other side. Todoroki stumbled in at the sudden change in balance, falling against Midoriya's chest as the two hit the wall opposite the door.

"Oh oops! Sorry, I didn't know you were there, umm, Todoroki," Midoriya said with a hesitant laugh. Biting his bottom lip, Todoroki gazed into Midoriya's eyes just a little longer than necessary. His hands on either side of Midoriya's head, Todoroki had implemented an accidental kabedon. Realizing it, he stepped back, blushing hard once more.

"I'm sorry, Midoriya. For just now, and for what happened earlier. I didn't really want you to find out tha-"

"It's fine, Todoroki. You don't have to apologize, I understand. Just because you couldn't help out when there was trouble, doesn't mean you're a bad person or friend. Like I said, it all worked out just fine, so let's just put it past us, okay?" Midoriya patted Todoroki's shoulder and grinned.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Todoroki got his nerves under control. So Midoriya hadn't picked up on his crush at all? Even after Bakugou's boyfriend remark. Maybe it was better this way. At least for now. "Yeah, let's do that. Are you working tomorrow, Midoriya?"

"Yeah, I'll be in at 8 am. If you're here too, would you like to try to have lunch at noon again? It was nice to have someone to talk to instead of staring at the walls."

Nodding enthusiastically, Todoroki twisted his mouth into a half-smile. "I'd love that. See you tomorrow." He waved goodbye to Midoriya and rested his back against the wall.

It wouldn't look that strange for him to show up on his day off just to eat lunch with Midoriya, right?

Walking out of the store, Midoriya briefly waved to Bakugou, who was berating a customer for moving their bag off of the self-checkout scale too soon. He briefly acknowledged him before returning to his rant about reading the screen. Smiling, Midoriya stepped outside, the sunlight warm against his face even as it briefly blinded him.

His first day had been quite eventful, and he looked forward to sharing it with his mom over dinner. Though, after thinking about it, he decided it best to leave out the part where he was almost assaulted by Dabi. He didn't want to wake up to another buffet tomorrow.

* * *

**AN- The end of Midoriya's first day is also the end of this story. For now. Since his experiences were inspired by my real-life customer interactions, who knows when I'll find more situations to throw these three into. So we may end up seeing more from Midoriya's first job in the future. Thank you for reading!**


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